Envision Festival: Livin’ la Vida Pura

The words “Pura Vida” translate to “Pure Life”, a phrase that can be heard throughout the gorgeous land of Costa Rica. Sure, all places around the world have their own catchy phrases, but Envision Festivaltruly embodies what it means to live a pure life with mind, body, soul and playfulness.

This Pura Vida state of mind was immediately apparent upon arriving on festival grounds. The line to enter the festival was literally hours long; however, neither festival attendees nor workers were stressed about it. On the contrary, most appeared genuinely happy and calm with the fact that they were on the gorgeous festival land of Uvita, Costa Rica and surrounded by beautiful people. While this small feat may seem arbitrary, you can immediately tell a lot about a festival by the way the crowd and crew handle the entry line – it’s a festival’s first impression.

Costa Rica is a land of dreamers and travelers, and Envision Festival attracted some of the most eccentric ones. The moment I finally got through the line and onto festival grounds I realized that Envision Festival is indeed more than just a music festival; it’s a temporary Utopian community of people from around the world that celebrate life and the human condition in many unique ways.People from several different countries made the journey to Costa Rica to experience a Pure Life at the annual event. In fact, I’ve never heard so many different languages and accents decorating the atmosphere of a festival in my life as I did at Envision Festival.

While the paradise of festival grounds and its warm demeanoured festival attendees began to exemplify the definition of Pura Vida, I got a deeper understanding of this phrase by roaming around and absorbing the culture.

Envision Festival had many activities and workshops planned to utilize the mind, body and spirit. Yoga classes, thought-provoking speakers and spiritually uplifting workshops took place throughout the days, in edition to beach activities and diverse music. I attended several diverse workshops throughout the days, including my first Cacao Heart Opening Ceremony during sunset — it was nothing short of incredible. While not a psychedelic, cacao has been traditionally used by Mayans to open the heart. This historic ceremony paired with a yoga class at sunset pealed away my layers and opened my heart up to vulnerability of both community and the unknown.

Further encouraging a Pure Life through health, all of Envision’s food options were clean and nutritious. I have never been to a festival with so many healthy and affordable options; everything I ate was literally homegrown, artisan and nourishing. This left me exponentially inspired to take healthy living choices away from the festival and back to my home life.

The Envision crowd was mature and many of the strangers I encountered and communicated with expressed journeying to Costa Rica for soul searching and meaning deeper than a party. The extremely family friendly event also had many children frolicking around with the adults, making the festival feel like one large extended family unit. The Envision Festival family unit celebrated even the most simplistic, yet beautiful day’s moments together. For example, every sunset a vast majority of attendees gathered at the beach and cheered in unison the moment the sun went down. A similar celebration occurred amongst attendees who were awake during sunrise. These simple rituals never ceased to take my breath away, as they exemplified a raw, yet harmonious perspective of human nature. Envision was pure. Envision was alive.

The festival wasn’t all seriousness; Envision left plenty of room for fun and booty shaking through the late night hours. This created a complete and balanced Pure Life experience. The light heartedness and bass music that went on literally until sunrise led myself and many others to rejoice in being alive. While the music lineup was amazing with cutting edge bass, folk and local music, it definitely wasn’t the main focus.

Pura Vida, to live a Pure Life, means to have pure mind, heart and soul; it means to nourish both the body and mind, but to not forget to celebrate. Envision Festival made all of these things and more possible and left all of its attendees with an unforgettably beautiful experience, a moment in time that shaped our lives forever.

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